he Black Sea Grain Initiative, commonly known as the grain deal, which provided for a humanitarian corridor to allow exports of Ukrainian grain over the past year, expired on July 18, 2023 as Russia did not extend its participation.
Moscow has been repeatedly critical of the fact that the deal’s provisions pertaining to Russia had not been fulfilled.
The grain deal did not justify its humanitarian purpose and was used only to enrich the USA and Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote in an article titled Russia and Africa: Joining Efforts for Peace, Progress and a Successful Future published by the Kremlin.
Many have probably heard of the so-called ‘grain deal,’ whose initial purpose was to ensure global food security, reduce the threat of hunger and help the poorest countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America – the reason why Russia undertook the obligation to facilitate its implementation in the first place.
This ‘deal,’ however, while it was publicly advertised by the West as a gesture of goodwill that benefited Africa, has in fact been shamelessly used solely for the enrichment of large USA and European businesses that exported and resold grain from Ukraine.
The Russian president emphasized that, in almost a year, a total of 32.8 million tonnes (metric tons) of supplies were exported from Ukraine under the grain deal, with over 70% of the exports ending up in high- and upper-middle-income countries.
Countries such as Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia, as well as Yemen and Afghanistan, received less than 3% of the supplies.
In the meantime, none of the ‘deal’ provisions relating to the exemption from sanctions of Russian grain and fertilizer exports to world markets, were fulfilled.
The Russian president stressed that barriers have been mounted to Russia’s attempts to supply free of charge mineral fertilizers to the poorest countries in need.
Of 262,000 tonnes of goods blocked in European ports, only two shipments were delivered – one of 20,000 tonnes to Malawi and one of 34,000 tonnes to Kenya. The rest is still unscrupulously held by the Europeans.
And this is a purely humanitarian initiative we are talking about, which should be exempt from any sanctions as such. Considering all these facts, there is no longer any use in continuing the ‘grain deal’ as it has failed to serve its original humanitarian purpose.
Sputnik / ABC Flash Point Global Food News 2023.
Russia should be boycotted, so no deal was possible to establish, the previous one was based with a back door slider inside, which did not work out for NATO in the end?